Jon Boat Conversion

[Thomas]

A friend asked me to convert her jon boat into a mini bass boat.  Not a van or a box truck, but practice in fabrication and figuring out how to build stuff.  The biggest task is framing out the front half of the boat for a casting deck, and I saw a clever idea last night:  Cut up an aluminum extension ladder and use it for the framing.  Wow.  It's all the material for ledgers, joists, and the rungs can become as many uprights as I need between the floor ribs and the joists.  I'm cutting up a ladder tomorrow.  Here's the before pictures.

 

[Tony's Dream]

I liked fishing at night and always finding a way to light things up when you needed to was a problem. I installed brackets in all 4 corners of my jon boat. I wired in 4 12V emergency LED lights, the kind that you might use under your hood, and wired them through a switch. The brackets would hold the lights in the right places and at the right height. When I caught a fish or just need to light things up, I would flip the switch and I had light.

 

[Malamute]

Oh heck, I was expecting to see a jon boat used to make a van roof extension for more headroom.

 

[bullfrog]

Wish you guys wouldn’t do this to me. I’ve been wanting to put a sloped roof on my camper and I have wanted to build a small light weight bass buggy type flat bottom boat maybe 8’ or so. Maybe I could dual purpose!

 

[ckelly78z]

I just did a build on an older MFG fiberglass tri-hull 12' long jon boat. I built a 48" casting deck on the front with a swivel seat, and two storage lockers. I also built into the sides some rod storage....lots of neat ideas on youtube videos. try Tinyboatnation.com for ideas.

 

[becida]

Wish you guys wouldn’t do this to me. I’ve been wanting to put a sloped roof on my camper and I have wanted to build a small light weight bass buggy type flat bottom boat maybe 8’ or so. Maybe I could dual purpose!

Just don't go fishing when it rains...

 

[Thomas]

I accomplished the aluminum framing for the casting deck.  I confess that I bought a brand new extension ladder at Lowes for $80.  I cut up the aluminum with a cutting disk on my angle grinder - easy peasy - 1 disk got it done.  I cut the rungs off one section and used them later as uprights.  I used the rung-less portion for the ledgers and for additional joists.  This framing is really really stiff, and for a weight penalty of only 18 pounds.  I will remember this technique and use it again.  
I had intended to attach the ledgers with rivnuts, but could find neither the tool nor the hardware.  So I used toggles.  'Course the steel I drilled into had Styrofoam flotation behind it, which would interfere with my toggles.  So I chucked an Allen wrench in my drill and used it as a behind-the-surface router to clear out some space back there, then sucked out the waste with a shop vac.    
I returned my 3/4" hardwood plywood and swapped it for 1/2" hardwood plywood, saving weight and money.  To waterproof it I got some epoxy resin.  I got half of the deck cut out, with 1/8" all around for when I stretch carpet over the edges.   My deck will be split down the center, with the edges supported by that bomb proof double joist.  Fits real well so far.

 

[Thomas]

..lots of neat ideas on youtube videos.  try Tinyboatnation.com for ideas.

And how!  I've been studying TBN.  I don't fish, so I had to do some research for this project.  I think it was a TBN video that had the ladder idea.

 

[Thomas]

I got the decking roughed in.  Next I need to figure out where to put the pedestal seat and some hatches.

 

[Tony's Dream]

Just a thought, something to think about. When you attach the decking, you raise the height of the center of gravity. Small boats like that are built to have your weight lower in the boat. Your feet are usually below the water level. As you walk around on the deck, you will be shifting your body weight above the water line. Could make it a little less stable?

 

[B and C]

Good point. You may want to put it in the water now before anything gets nailed down so you can move around and see where stuff can be put.

 

[Thomas]

Yeah man. Standing up on the deck will be less stable than standing on the "floor", especially towards the front. But on this boat one can stand on the edge of the middle bench and pull up an anchor or trap, so it should be OK. But yeah, always on my mind. I sure don't want to build something that's gonna cause an accident.

 

[ckelly78z]

My boat is a tri-hull, not a V nose...meant to be stable in the water. I also kept the casting deck lower than the side rails, just on top of the existing seats....very sturdy.

 

[Thomas]

Here's the casting deck with hatches cut out.  The pedestal seat will be just forward of the openings, still over the flat portion of the bottom, able to reach forward to operate a front transom hand trolling motor (I may need to make her a tiller extension).  Seat won't interfere with the hatch openings.  Shopping tomorrow for some hardware and electrical stuff.  While I'm waiting for delivery of my epoxy resin, I'm going  to run some wires for the nav lights - through PVC tube, 1/4" plastic tube, shrink wrap, in-line fuses, etc.

 

[ckelly78z]

For electrical, I was going to mount a fuse block, along with a switch control panel that had USB, and a cig lighter powerstation plug. I changed my mind after getting a new jump starter https://tacklifetools.com/products/t8-max-jump-starter.

This jump starter has all the device charging capabilities, along with running your electronics, and having an emergency battery charger for your trolling motor, or gas motor.

Put it in the trunk of your car when you aren't fishing.

 

[bullfrog]

That jumper pack says it takes 5 hours to charge I believe and one place says it will power an air compressor to fill 10 tires and another 4 tires! It only had one review in a foreign language. How do you charge it and with what voltage? Let us know how it works out.

 

[Thomas]

I'm leaving the battery issue up to her (her boat).  But what I will do is make it easy to change where she puts the battery.  I'm wiring for the battery to be just forward of the live well, also convenient for a bow mounted trolling motor, but very easy to pull the wires through and relocate the leads and fuses to the back.  For reference, a pair of 14 gauge wires pulls right through 1/4" vinyl tubing.

EPOXY RESIN was today's adventure.  I used up about 1/4 of my gallon of epoxy resin to seal coat the top of all the decking.  Today was the first time I used epoxy resin, after studying a dozen videos about it.  Everything seems to be curing - no sticky spots.  Tomorrow I'll do the other side of the decking, and the next day I'll float another coat on the top.  This was a great opportunity to experiment with epoxy - on something that's going to be covered in carpet.

 

[Thomas]

After four days of epoxy resin, I have a new skill.  And apparently well sealed floor panels.  I foresee using this technique to repair a box truck at some point.

 

[ByeBye]

Nice documentation

 

[Thomas]

Prepped and carpeted the floor panels today.  That meant grinding off any little epoxy bumps, rough sanding the shine off the panels, and re-drilling any holes that go through the deck.  All the through-holes are coated with epoxy so that the screws holes don't let water into the wood.  I also had to clean my whole shop before unwrapping the carpet.  My shop floor was big enough to lay out the carpet and lay out the panels on it, to be sure I have the grain of the carpet oriented north-south on each piece. 

The indoor-outdoor carpet glue I used is water-based, which means that it isn't really cured until all the water evaporates out of it  (wisdom from tiny boat nation).  I began each panel by stapling the under side of a north-south edge, then flipping the carpet out of my way and spreading the glue.  On the larger panels I worked them one at a time, which meant taking a 30 minute break to clean the tools while the glue tacked up.   Then I rolled the carpet over the glue, made sure it stretched tight around the stapled edge, rolled it away from the stapled edge with a 8" length of 2" PVC pipe.  Then I flipped it over and stapled the other north-south edge so, in theory I have the carpet stretched out east-west between two stapled edges.  I then did a little more rolling before letting the panel sit.  

So for tonight all my panels are laying flat with a fan blowing across them,  just like drying out the carpet after a plumbing adventure.  I think I'll leave them like that for a few days.  But tomorrow I will begin upholstering the corners.

Oh, while I was at it, I reinforced the deck and drilled holes for an alternative mounting location for the forward pedestal seat. So if she wants to move the seat further aft behind the hatch openings, it's just a matter of punching bolts through the carpet and bolting the pedestal down in its alternative location.